Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) (31 page)

“Can we finally be open and honest about everything?” I asked.

“Jacey, you were born here, in Nemele. We lived here for two years after your birth. We lived here among all of our family and friends. When you were born, we knew there was something special about you because you were born with your Awakening. Only one other in our history have ever been born with their Awakening. We knew we needed to do absolutely anything and everything to keep you safe.” Mom stopped to take a breath, and of course, I interrupted.

“So, if I’m getting this right, the Awakening which everyone else here has when it’s time has
never
happened to anyone else here at birth, I’m the only one. Well, me and one other?” I asked.

“Yes, you and one other are the only ones to have ever been born with their Awakening. In normal circumstances, we would have stayed in Nemele to protect you and the other. However, the Yietimpi found out about the two of you, and a huge battle ensued. The Yietimpi took the other one.” Mom stopped for a second and looked over my shoulder quickly. She continued with a worried expression on her face.

“There is so, so much I need to tell you. But time isn’t one of the luxuries I have right now. The main thing I wanted you to hear from us is our kind is
immortal.
If you live in or outside of Nemele and you practice and care for your gifts, you remain immortal. Out of need, your father and I turned our backs on Nemele and all of our teachings.” She paused briefly.

“Remember the attic at Grace’s? Remember the energy signature you released when you inadvertently used one of your gifts? Jen and Grace warned you about the Yietimpi being able to trace and locate you because of it. Since we needed to keep you safe and away from Nemele, we couldn’t use our gifts. We knew if we did, they would have been a huge beacon and it would have allowed anyone, good or bad, to find us.

“We knew then the power you possessed would always be too much for us to shield from the other like you and the Yietimpi. The combined energy signature the two of you had was how they found us in the first place—the powers which you and she shared were miraculous. We all imagined the possibilities. We all knew what could happen if the two of you were taught to harness your gifts properly. However, conversely we all knew the risks if they happened to be harnessed to serve evil purposes.

“To keep you and all other Nemelites safe, we left here and almost everyone and everything in it, except Grace. It wasn’t until Hudson’s Awakening and the direct effect we believed it had on the frequency of your dreams, that we decided it didn’t matter where we were, they would eventually find us. Those factors made us decide to return to Nemele. But we were too late. We were killed by a contingent of Yietimpi who found our energy signature. The only way a Nemelite, immortal or not, can die, is by the hand of a Yietimpi. The last Nemelites that were killed before your father and I was during the war I mentioned earlier. During that period there were many lost on both sides—” Mom’s eyes filled with tears and she looked at Dad. He picked up where she left off.

“Jacey, you may not ever truly understand or even agree with the decisions your mother and I made, however, we did it because we thought it would save you. To save you from having to ever face Nec—”

The mark in the palm of my hand started to burn again before Dad could finish. Instinctively, I turned around to look at everyone else who was ‘frozen’ in time and my stomach dropped to my feet. Flying over top of the Sentry was none other than the onyx-eyed girl.

“Jacey, run to Hullen—she will keep you safe,” Mom yelled as she and my father instantly turned into swirling kaleidoscopes of colors. The instant my concentration broke from my parents, everything moved in lightning speed. I hopped back into Ms. Hullen’s arms and everyone moved as though my time with Mom and Dad hadn’t happened.

As we were about to breach the opening of the castle, we were all brought to a screeching stop by a noise from its roof, which was louder than anything I’d ever heard before in my entire life. I looked up, and standing there was a wall of beings. The one responsible for the screech was a woman standing in front of all the others on a turret.

Her physical appearance set her apart from the rest. She was very petite in stature, but by no means a person you’d walk by without taking notice. Her skin was bone white and her eyes were a piercing color of green. Her facial features were sharp to the point of breathtaking. However, her most overpowering feature—other than her screech, of course, was her hair. It was jet black and flowed out all around her, giving the illusion it grew with every noise that came from her. It continually flowed around her heels and spread around her like a shield of sorts. In that instant, I realized I was staring at a Morrigan—a goddess of war and sex—
holy freaking crap
.

Once she stopped screeching, I was able to look away and take everyone else in. The Sentry and the onyx-eyed girl, a. k. a. stalker, had also been affected and stopped dead in their tracks.

There was no doubt in my mind the entire Sentry had given chase to the onyx-eyed girl prior to the Morrigan’s call. It was, however, quite stunning to see them all stopped, still crouched in attack posture, ready to move if need be in a split second. More astounding was to see the only person who didn’t seem effected by the call moving—imagine who—of course my stalker. I was at my wit’s end. I’d had enough. I was going to take care of this and take care of it now. I decided to literally go and jump this girl myself. Before I could react, the Morrigan spoke—the power and authority in her voice was unmistakable.

“Take notice, I would be first to see a war and what needs to become of it, but only when the warring parties are, in fact, a threat to one another. I call a halt to everyone—Seeker, you are included in that order.”

I turned to look at the girl who’d been following me since I’d come to Nemele. She stopped and peered up toward the beings on the roof of the castle. A loud unified gasp came from nearly everyone.

Jen, Hudson, and Vincent had all taken on their human forms. I looked around, trying to figure out what the big deal was with the gasp and all. I was staring at the onyx-eyed girl, not floating in the meadow anymore, but on her knees, peering up at the castle with completely whited-out eyes. The onyx eyes I’d become familiar with were now opaque white—
what the?

“Seeker, you have chosen blindness for a reason, I am sure,” the Morrigan called out.

The Seeker didn’t respond. She stayed on her knees with her face pointing upward. Everyone held their collective breaths as I took it upon myself to move closer. Vincent grabbed my arm and pulled me into his chest. This, of course, left me silent for only a second before I found my voice, and when I did, I looked into his eyes and said, “I need to do this.” He was hesitant at first and then let go of my arm.

I walked over to the Seeker and held out the hand she’d marked. I did so in a helpful gesture. She peered at me with empty eyes.

“Jacey, I come for you…” was all she had the chance to say.

We were surrounded by the Sentry. While they tried to remove me from the equation, I felt a familiar surge of power collect within my palms. I held both of my hands out in front of me and in a flash of light, the Seeker and I were transported to the dimension I’d shared before only with my parents and Eve.

“How did you know?” the Seeker asked, seemingly caught off guard.

“How did I know what?” I asked.

“How did you know to stop everyone and trust in me enough to bring me here?”

“I didn’t. I just knew you weren’t going to hurt me or anyone else here. I also wanted to talk to you and find out why you’ve been following me—why you’re here and why all this has happened,” I said, amazed I was able to bring both of us into this dimension without any kind of help from anyone else.

“We cannot stay here long.” she said, looking at me with very much restored black eyes. “They’ll be able to sense us here, we can’t stay here.” It was her turn to look scared. “You need to know I have risked everything to bring you a message. A message I cannot reveal here. Turn this off!” she yelled.

I stopped the surge of power which had been coming from me and we were thrown back into the middle of the field where we’d been prior to my little ‘beam me up Scotty’ routine.

The second we were back in Nemele, her eyes reverted to opaque white and she fell to her knees in front of me.

When the Sentry tried to move in again, I threw myself in front of her. In doing so, I found myself looking up at some very infuriated beings, Heathe no exception.

“Move out of the way now, Jacey,” he ordered.

“No,” I yelled back, surprised I was able to talk considering my stomach felt like everything had moved up into my throat.

“She’s here for me and not in a bad way. She has a message for all of us. Can’t you see she’s no threat to you, me, or anyone else, for that matter? For God’s sake, she’s blinded herself so she could be here,” I said, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt what I’d said was true.

“You have no idea how these Seekers can manipulate and place thoughts in your mind. You’re not the one who’s going to make a decision for this Seeker. She’s coming with us,” Heathe concluded. My roller coaster episode reared its ugly head again and I felt there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop any of this. As Heathe was about to move me out of the way, Ms. Hullen jumped in between the two of us.

“Heathe, you need to stop right now. You’re not the one to make this decision.”

When she finished, a male dressed all in black approached. The Sentry parted to allow him entry. Ms. Hullen placed herself directly behind the girl and me.

The Seeker reached out and took hold of my right hand. The instant our skin came into contact, there was a surge of bonding which took me completely by surprise. I was overcome by a feeling of familiarity. The emotion I experienced reminded me of the way I’d felt when we’d been away from home for prolonged periods of time and then returned. The feeling of knowing I was safe. I looked down at her. Her eyes were still a mass of white emptiness but her face was filled with a light which radiated peace—it alone caught my breath.

While I’d been staring down at her, the man in black reached us. He was about to place his hand on Heathe’s shoulder when Vincent materialized beside me.

“Father, I trust in her choice. We need to see exactly what all of this is about,” Vincent implored.

“Vincent, you are too young and don’t understand what these
Seekers
are capable of. You weren’t here the last time they came into our world.” He looked directly toward the Seeker and me. The confidence and authority in his words were unmistakable. It was the surprise and shock which over took his facial expression that caught my attention.

“By all of Nemele, this—this is impossible. Eve, Grace,” the man yelled out as he fell to his knees in front of me and the Seeker. With his action, a flurry of Sentry came to hover to ensure Vincent’s father was safe. He held up his hand to tell them to back off.

“Bronson…” With the mention of his name from the Seeker, Bronson, Vincent’s father, turned to her and slowly moved his hand toward her face. She, of course, was blind, and therefore couldn’t see what he was attempting. However, she could feel the change in air directly in front of her. Once she did, she pulled back. I held fast to her hand.

“It’s okay, he won’t hurt you,” I said, knowing Bronson had no malice for this girl. I felt the turmoil within him. It was as though he was radiating feelings so anyone around could read them.

I looked at the castle in time to see Eve and Aunt Grace. They were literally flying towards us. As they approached, the Seeker moved behind me, all the while never letting go of my hand. Vincent was hyper-aware beside me and openly staring at the Seeker. Like his father, he was mesmerized by her, yet internally apprehensive.

“Jacey, I need to tell you why I’m here,” the Seeker said as Grace and Eve arrived. Eve placed her hand on Bronson’s shoulder and Aunt Grace placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Bronson, are you okay?” Eve asked.

“Look, Grace, look closely,” was all he could say.

The Seeker grabbed my hand harder than before and pulled me into her. Instantly, Vincent, Jen, Hudson, and the Sentry acted. They all moved in unison towards me.

“No, no, it’s okay, she doesn’t want to hurt me, she’s just scared,” was all I could get out. Even Ms. Hullen was on guard, waiting to see which side she was supposed to stop before anything happened.

“Jacey, don’t leave me,” she whispered in my ear. Her hand clenched mine with an iron grip.

I turned to look at her and noticed she no longer had jet black hair and pasty white skin. Her hair had turned the same color as my Aunt’s, a golden brown, and her face took on features which I found scarily familiar. It was like looking into a mirror—kind of like looking into my dreams where I was talking to myself, only this
was
the reflection I saw in the dream mirror.

“Faith…” Aunt Grace said, breaking the silence. She was visibly shaken.

“I am her reflection. I am her vessel to deliver a message,” The onyx-eyed girl said in an eerie monotone voice, nothing like the scared girl I’d heard earlier.

The Morrigan then came into view and announced, “This is something we need to do inside the confines of the Inception Chamber in the castle.”

Everyone, me included, followed the procession of beings that had occupied the castle roof top, and were now leading the way inside. All of us were followed closely by the Sentry. I turned and looked at the girl holding onto me, expecting to see my face again, but she had reverted to her normal look except for her eyes. She was still blind.

As we were about to enter the castle, I turned and watched Aunt Grace. She was staring at my tag-along as though she were some kind of mystical entity which was going to change again before her eyes.

“Who’s Faith, Aunt Grace?” I asked, breaking her trance-like state.

“She’s my daughter,” Aunt Grace replied, completely catching me off guard.

“You have a daughter?” I shouted back?.

“I do, I did…I mean, I do, but she was lost many, many years ago,” she said. She looked as though she were about to cry.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes my filter doesn’t work very well,” I said, pointing to my mouth and putting on my most apologetic
face.

Vincent came up beside me and grabbed my free hand. Of course the electric feel of his skin on mine was ever present and was probably the only thing which could have torn my attention away from Aunt Grace.

“You’ll hear everything in the Inception Chamber, Jacey. I know everyone has asked you to be patient, but right now,” he looked back at the onyx-eyed girl and then back to me. “Right now we need to find out more about
her
before she finds anything else out about us.” He gave my hand a slight squeeze.

“I get it,” I said, more to stop the conversation than anything else, even though I didn’t get it
.
I knew this girl had absolutely no ill will for me or anyone else. That was apparent the instant our hands interlocked. Somehow, I was able to tell she was a
good soul
, a person who wanted only to help, not harm. At this point in time, I didn’t think anyone here was going to listen to anything I thought or said…yet.